I have to confess, I haven't had a lot of time to think this through all the way. I may decide to change my mind later. But the fact that Sen. Clinton is suggesting that Bush boycott the Olympics (see story here), seems like a bad idea.
Didn't we do this once before? Maybe in Summer 1980? President Carter decided to boycott the Olympics (USSR was the bad guy back then). As I recall, the ones that suffered the most were the athletes. And the farmers too. Carter announced a grain embargo on the USSR, and the price of grain bottomed out as there was more grain than could be sold.
What did we gain out of the Olympic boycott of 1980? Nothing. Embarrassment. And a lot of athletes who had worked for years only to have the gold snatched from their hands.
*Updated spelling as per offline comment*
4 comments:
It sounds like Clinton isn't talking about boycotting the Olympics as a whole, just the opening ceremony. With all that's going on in Tibet right now I think it's definitely worth considering.
At this point, I believe you're right, she's only talking about boycotting the opening ceremony. At least one other senator (saw him on the news, but can't recall his name) wants the US to boycott the entire olympics.
However, I still feel that's not right. 1) History proves that it will do no good. 2) If he goes, he will be supporting the US team and 3) showing diplomacy to the world, not just China. And, believe it or not, 4) China has made advances.
If he doesn't go, he snubs his nose at not only China, the rest of the world. Somehow politicizing the olympics just doesn't sit right with me.
Hell let's go and win all the good Golds like '36
In the Winter of 1980 (just before the boycott of the summer Olympics), we defeated the Soviet Union at hockey. That was a major win....
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